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Jonathan seeks objectivity from critics

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President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday presented the mid-term report of his four-year agenda, with a call on critics of his administration to be objective.

Jonathan made the presentation on the occasion of the 2013 Democracy Day celebration held at the International Conference Centre, Abuja. He specifically condemned some sections of the media, which he said had rated the performance of his ministers, low without making open the criteria used in the assessment.

Jonathan called on Nigerians to use the 234-page document containing the mid-term report of the performance of his administration in assessing his government.

“Only on Monday, I looked through a particular publication, one of our dailies, which gave an assessment of the performance of ministers. The first thing I looked for that I did not see was the criteria they used to assess the performance of the ministers.

Jonathan: criticizes critics

Jonathan: criticizes critics

“As a teacher, I know that for you to mark a student’s work, you must have a marking scheme, because assessment can be very subjective.’’

Jonathan said the newspaper rated the ministries of Trade and Investments and National Planning, which performed creditably well, average.

He said that since 2007, the three ministers of National Planning and three ministers of Trade and Investments he had worked with, never did “what is being done today’’.

The president also noted that in spite of “our security challenges’’, many businessmen were interested in coming to do business with Nigeria.

He said the Ministry of Trade and Investments, which was `a dead end’, `is now very active’’, while Shamsudeen Usman has brought life to the Ministry of National Planning.

“But these two ministries were scored average, and I asked what the criteria are.’’

Jonathan, therefore, pleaded with those who want to assess and write about his mid-term scorecard, to develop a criterion because “without a marking scheme you cannot mark anybody’s paper’’.

Earlier in a presentation, the Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, had said that in spite of challenges of inequality and inclusion, “the nation’s economy is waxing strong’’.
She said that the GDP had recorded significant growth, with the dollar exchange rate remaining stable at between N155 and N160.

Okonjo-Iweala said the rate of inflation had slowed to 9.1 per cent from 12.4 per cent in May 2011, while the external reserve had risen from 32.08 billion dollar in May 2011 to 48.4 billion in May 2013.

Specifically, she said the External Crude Account (ECA) rose from about four billion dollars in May 2011 to about nine billion dollar at the end of 2012 and 16 billion dollar in May 2013.

Okonjo-Iweala, who is also the coordinating minister, said the ECA had been of help in improving the economy since oil production fell from the projected 2.53 million bpd to between 2.1 million bpd and 2.2 million bpd.

The minister said that there were deliberate government policies to reduce recurrent expenditure and complete unfinished capital projects.

“Recurrent expenditure has dropped from 7.4 per cent of total budget in 2011 to 6.87 per cent in 2013.

“Government developed `Envelop System’ to enable ministers to prioritise 600 uncompleted capital projects,’’ she said.

The minister said government annual borrowing fell from N852 billion in 2011 to N588 billion in 2013, while debt to GDP is 21 per cent.

She said the administration’s waiver and tariff policies had also changed positively, with government focusing on sectoral waivers such as agriculture, power, aircraft spare parts, solid minerals at zero duty.

“Trade has improved and exports are up in plastics and rubber, vegetable products, prepared food stuff and beverages,’’ she said.

Okonjo-Iweala also said that exports increased from 9 per cent in 2008 to 31 per cent in 2012.

She said that with over 7 billion dollar foreign direct investment in 2012, Nigeria had become the highest investment destination in Africa.

Dignitaries present at the event included Senate President David Mark, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Emeka Ihedioha and the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Aloma Mukhtar.

Former Head of State Gen. Yakubu Gowon, former President Shehu Shagari, former Head of Interim National Government Ernest Shonekan and former Chief of General Staff, retired Gen. Oladipo Diya, were also in attendance. (NAN)

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Posted in Nigeria News. A DisNaija.Com network.

Source: PM News

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Kano Transfers Over 1,000 Almajiris To Different States Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic

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The Kano State Government on Saturday said it has transferred 1,098 ‘almajiris’ to different states of the country.

The commissioner for local government, Murtala Garo, disclosed this while presenting a report before the state’s task force on COVID-19 at the government house, Kano.

Almajiris are children who are supposed to be learning Islamic studies while living with their Islamic teachers. Majority of them, however, end up begging on the streets of Northern Nigeria. They constitute a large number of Nigeria’s over 10 million out-of-school children.

Mr Garo said the Kano government transported 419 almajiris to Katsina, 524 to Jigawa and 155 to Kaduna. He said all of them tested negative for coronavirus before leaving the Kano State.

Despite the coronavirus test done in Kano for the almajiris, the Jigawa government earlier said it would quarantine for two weeks all the almajiris that recently arrived from Kano.

Mr Garo said another 100 almajiris scheduled to be taken to Bauchi State also tested negative to COVID-19.

In a remark, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje said the COVID-19 situation in Kano was getting worse. He appealed for a collaborative effort to curtail the spread of the virus in the state.

Mr Ganduje, who commended residents for complying with the lockdown imposed in the state, said the decision was taken to halt the spread of the virus.

Kano State, as of Saturday night, has 77 coronavirus cases, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.

The decision to transfer the Kano almajiris is part of the agreement reached between Northern governors that almajiris in each state be transferred to their states of origin.

However, even before the latest agreement by the governors, the Kano government had been transferring almajiris to other states and neighbouring countries after it banned street begging in the state, most populous in Northern Nigeria.

Despite the transfers, however, no concrete step has been taken to ensure such children do not return to Kano streets as there is freedom of movement across Nigeria although interstate travel was recently banned to check the spread of the coronavirus.

 

Sourced From: Premium Times Nigeria

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Nigeria News

COVID-19: ‘Bakassi Boys’ Foil Attempt To Smuggle 24 Women Into Abia In Container

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By Ugochukwu Alaribe

Operatives of the Abia State Vigilante Service, AVS, popularly known as ‘Bakassi Boys’ have arrested 24 market women hidden in a container truck, at Ekwereazu Ngwa, the boundary community between Abia and Akwa Ibom states.

The market women, said to be  from Akwa Ibom State, were on their way to Aba, when they were arrested with the truck driver and two of his conductors for violating the lockdown order by the state government.

Driver of the truck, Moses Asuquo, claimed he was going to Aba to purchase stock fish, but decided to assist the market women, because they were stranded.

A vigilante source told Sunday Vanguard that the vehicle was impounded while the market women were sent back to Akwa Ibom State.

Commissioner for Home Land Security, Prince Dan Okoli, who confirmed the incident, said that  smuggling of people into the state poses great threat to the state government’s efforts to contain the spread of COVID- 19.

 

Sourced From: Vanguard News

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Nigeria News

Woman Kills Her Maid Over Salary Request

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Operatives of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Yaba of the Lagos State police command have arrested one Mrs Nene Steve for allegedly killing her maid, Joy Adole

The maid was allegedly beaten to death by Nene for requesting for her salary at their residence located at 18, Ogundola Street, Bariga area in Lagos.

Narrating the incident, Philips Ejeh, an elder brother to the deceased said that he was sad when they informed him that his sister was beaten to death.

He explained that the deceased was an indigene of Benue State brought to Lagos through an agent and started working with her as a maid  in January 2020.

‘’She reported that her boss refused to pay her and anytime she asked for her salary she will start beating her.

She was making an attempt to leave the place but due to the total lockdown she remained there until Sunday when her boss said she caught her stealing noodles and this led to her serious beating and death,’’ Ejeh said.

He called on Lagos State Government and well- meaning people in the country to help them in getting justice for the victim.

The police spokesman, Bala Elkana, stated that the woman and her husband came to Bariga Police  Station to a report that their house girl had committed suicide.

Detectives were said to have visited the house and suspected foul play with the position of the rope and bruises all over the body which confirmed that the girl had been tortured to death and the boss decided to hang up the girl to make it look like suicide.

He said: “The police moved on with their investigation and found a lot of sign of violence on her body that she has been tortured before a rope was put on her neck.’’

He added that the police removed the corpse and deposited it in the mortuary for autopsy to further ascertain the cause of the death.

Elkana said the matter has been transferred from Bariga police station to Panti for further investigation while the couple have been arrested and will be charged to court.

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Boko Haram Attacks: Buhari Summons Urgent Meeting Of Service Chiefs

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President Buhari and the Service Chiefs in a meeting. (File photo)

Ostensibly alarmed by the latest killings of dozens of soldiers by Boko Haram insurgents, President Muhammadu Buhari has summoned an urgent meeting of Service Chiefs to find ways to stop the trend. 

He has also dispatched the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan Ali, to the neighbouring Republic of Chad for an urgent meeting with President Idris Deby and his defence counterpart. 

Knowledgeable sources said in Abuja on Friday that the president is worried by on the deterioration of security situation on the Nigeria – Chad Border that has led to the recently increased Boko Haram terrorism in the area.

The sources which did not want to be named in Abuja said: “Nigeria has a Chad  problem in the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) put together to secure the Lake Chad basin areas and repeal the Boko Haram terrorist attacks against all the countries neighbouring the Lake.”

The sources noted that Chad is believed to be having their own internal security challenges and this has reportedly led to their pulling away their own troops manning their own border around Lake Chad,  saying: “That lacuna is being exploited by the Boko Haram terrorists, who go in and out of Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon to launch terrorist acts.  This is a clear illustration of the fact that terrorism is beyond national borders.”

When contacted, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, confirmed that the Defence Minister is going to Chad but said he is unaware of the purpose. 

Meanwhile, the military authorities are said to be in the process of identifying the families of the latest victims with a view to making contact with them. 

Credible sources revealed that it is the reason the president is yet to make any pronouncement on the matter. 

“The President has called an urgent meeting with the Service Chiefs, as well as the fact that families of the latest victims of the Boko Haram are being identified and contacts made before a government pronouncement on the tragic attacks. This, it is understood, is the reason for the silence of the government over the incident,” the source said. 

 

Sourced From: Tribune

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